Shell game

Shell game

Wired: The Iraq war is about liberating the oppressed Iraqi people.
Tired: The Iraq war is about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Expired: The Iraq war is about Iraqi links to al Qaeda.
Try to stay up on the current trends, will ya?
-from a comment on Scott Rosenberg’s Salon blog

As the fighting dies down in Iraq, I’ve been continually floored/amazed/impressed by the right’s ability to change the focus constantly. Andrew Sullivan’s latest on child prisons and how lefties marched to keep Saddam in power was a great example of the new “aren’t we great because we brought democracy to those wonderful Iraqis” focus. Well, here’s a news flash, Andy: we didn’t bring democracy to the Iraqis. The most we brought them was the brief opportunity to loot before we turned the lights back on. The rest comes later – remember Afghanistan?

Another triumph was the endless footage of tearing down the Saddam statue. Impressive symbolism. How wonderful that we can watch, over and over and over, the jubilation of thousands of free Iraqis celebrating their liberation. The truth was a little different: a couple dozen Iraqis, painfully aware of the western TV cameras, cheering while American troops used a large chain and a tank to pull down the statue.

Then there’s the “where’s the WMD” question. My favorite response to this is, hey, give us some time! This is a big country! I’m sure we’ll find tons of bad stuff eventually! Which is hilarious, considering that these are the same people who didn’t want to give U.N. inspectors more time. But mostly they just ignore it, change the focus, and crow about those happy scrappy liberated Iraqis (see above). Which again is brilliant. We just spent $75 billion, and killed 7,500 Iraqis. In our own minds, we are willing to help the administration put a good face on this, because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate.

The other stock answer to “where’s the WMD” is the most brilliant of all: they’re in Syria! Yeah, that’s the ticket! It’s a masterstroke because it’s not only just as unverifiable as the claims that led to this war, it provides a perfect staging ground for the next one.

Unlike most of us, Winston Smith worked at the Ministry of Truth. We just get to watch it in action.